The Transfiguration Touches All Lives, Says Cardinal O’Malley

In a Mass for the feast of the Transfiguration, Cardinal Seán O’Malley, archbishop of Boston, said the faithful must not only be converted to God in their own lives, but must also see the transfigured Christ in everyone they meet, especially those who are poor, suffering or rejected.

“The same Christ that is hidden in the Eucharist is hidden in suffering humanity,” he said in his homily at the Supreme Convention Mass on Wednesday morning, Aug. 6.

With hearts open to the message of the Gospel, he said, “this is how our vision should be. As Mother Teresa would say, we must see Jesus in the distressing disguise of the poorest of the poor.”

Cardinal O’Malley recalled that when Pope Francis stopped to kiss a disfigured man in St. Peter’s Square, the world suddenly saw that man with new eyes. By the pope’s kiss, he was transfigured from an unappealing figure whom people would avoid to a man with an identity and dignity, he explained.

Disfigured by sin, humanity has been transfigured by the love of Christ, the cardinal continued. The Christian mission is to bring the love of Christ to others, he added.

Cardinal O’Malley began his homily by thanking the Knights of Columbus for their service of charity, which changes lives and keeps love alive. “You are building a society of solidarity and fraternity that makes the Church real in the world,” he said.

The main celebrant for the Mass was Cardinal James Harvey, an American who is archpriest of the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls in Rome. A number of other cardinals, bishops and priests concelebrated.